Whenever your new album comes out after an interval of seven years, there's reason to be excited. While Boards of Canada may not have had the hype machine that Daft Punk did with their Columbia Records debut, Tomorrow's Harvest - Boards of Canada's new album - has certainly produced it's own amount of hysteria. Ever since the mysterious Boards of Canada 12" that appeared on Record Store Day this year (containing only a tantalizing 20 seconds of music), fans have been clamoring for new tracks. After all of the wait, it's finally here.

Tomorrow's Harvest opens with a nostalgic introduction --- like the intro to a VHS tape --- then immediately opens up to an apocalyptic world, full of dread, slowly rising smoke, and impending doom. The album's second track and single "Reach For the Dead" is dark and heavy and plays out like the scene to a movie: thick with tension. Tomorrow's Harvest moves in this way, slowly building upon layers of drone and percussion. Gone are the quirky melodies and pastoral nostalgia of Boards of Canada past; they have been replaced deep bass and low frequencies. Still, these tracks are unmistakably Boards of Canada. The way they handle space and atmosphere just simply cannot be matched. Songs like "New Seeds" build noticeably until the world is full with sound and music before it fades away just as abruptly.

As with the rest of Boards of Canada's ouerve, the LP and sleeves are elegantly designed with photographs by the band: Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin. They hold the same bleached out 1970s color photograph feel and invoke a dusty end-of-the-road distopia. As it should be, this lovely package is available on Warp Records and can be purchased through Bleep. I don't know about web orders, but if you hurry, many of the LPs come with a promotional poster for the album as well.

Disclosure May Have Just Made the Record of the Year

You know an album is good when with every track you find yourself saying, "That should be the single... NO, THAT should be the single." And so on. Such is the case with Settle the wonderfully brilliant new record by Disclosure. Each track has the ability to set the dance floor on fire, each song will find its way into your head, stuck there for an afternoon. Take "When A Fire Starts To Burn," take "F For You," take "Stimulation," take "Confess to Me (ft. Jessie Ware)" they all have strong hooks, fantastic vocals, and make you want to shake your ass. Don't take my word for it, check them perform "Confess To Me" live on 'Later... with Jools Holland.'

Outrageous, right? And that is just a taste. As I said before almost every track on Settle is suitable single material and the album is a dream to listen to front to back. They have the record for sale on the Disclosure official store and there is a limited edition package that includes a 12" x 12" screenprint on 250 gsm archival paper. This may be something you want; I have a feeling Settle may turn into one of the most sought after records of the year. Combining pop sensibilities with grime tendencies and a nod to house, Disclosure has made a record you'll want to listen to again and again.

Bibio's Effervescent Beauty

Almost as quietly as Bibio's music can be, Warp dropped Silver Wikinson this May. The record is an ethereal affair; it's difficult to analyze: try and focus on it and it disappears like fog, but ignored it ambles in like summer aromas wafting in through the window. At times, when the songs coalesce, Silver Wilkinson evokes some of the same feelings as Mount Kimbie. At its best the record sounds jazzy, experimental, but it is elusive and wispy. Listen. And repeat.

Daft Punk's 'Random Access Memories' Out Tomorrow. You Might Want to Pick Yourself Up A Copy

So I won't waste your time and my breath telling you all about the new Daft Punk record Random Access Memories that is finally being released tomorrow on Columbia Records. You should have heard it all by now, with the record being streamed on iTunes --- of all places --- for a week now. It truly is amazing what the firepower of a behemoth record label can get you: all of the posters around town, the incredible build up to the release, the wonderful The Creators Project with Vice Magazine, and of course the cachet to stream the damn thing on iTunes.

Either way, get the damn thing (there, I've said it). There is a double LP version available that should be quite good; in my experience, none of the large labels do vinyl as well as Columbia (except of course for the cost). You can pick it up through InSound, although I'm sure your local shop is going to be carrying this one. Here's "Doin' It Right" feat. Panda Bear.

Outrageously excited for this EP on Mister Saturday Night, In Brackets the new EP from Dark Sky came out last week. In Brackets boasts 4 new tracks from the London based DJ trio. The crescent moon/sun that is Mister Saturday Night's logo is a fitting piece of artwork for In Brackets as there is some moonlight which pervades through these tracks, illuminating them just enough to hold a candle of hope in the twilight world of Dark Sky. This is especially prevalent in the album's second track "Voices." Check it out on their soundcloud. Better yet, buy it before it is gone and say you were there. Label Mister Saturday Night admits, "they’re the first non-Brooklyn artists on the label, and, funny story, when they first sent us music, we actually thought they were from Brooklyn. (Shows how much we know.)" We're all learning how good this group can be. Start your education early.

Mount Kimbie returns to 'Cold Spring Fault Less Youth'

In certain circles, I feel like the new Mount Kimbie record Cold Spring Fault Less Youth out May 27 on the inimitable Warp Records has been as hyped up as the new Daft Punk. Whatever the case may be, Cold Spring Fault Less Youth deserves that kind of treatment. Evolving from the group's early work Crooks & Lovers. Cold Spring finds Kai Campos and Dom Maker progressing past electronica into a realm inhabited by the likes of fellow Brits Bonobo and Four Tet.

Mount Kimbie is delightfully described as "Post-dubstep" and as ridiculous as that sounds it might be the best description for the group. Their sound is informed by urban life, but buttressed by a clear introspection. Don't be mislead: Mount Kimbie make beautiful, but weird music. It's dance music made by fans of Animal Collective or by ravers on the wrong drugs. Something happened here, and it needs to be witnessed. Pick up your copy through bleep.

Just When I Was Wondering What the Hell Happened to Kimya Dawson... She Makes a Collab Album with Aesop Rock

Yes, you did just read that correctly: Aesop Rock and Kimya Dawson (of Moldy Peaches fame) have joined forces to become The Uncluded. Their new record Hockey Fright is out now on Rhymesayers. Aesop Rock and Dawson's collaboration began in 2007 when Aesop Rock wrote Kimya Dawson a fan letter. Several years later and they started the oddities blog 900bats. Eventually, this lead to the creation of The Uncluded and is every bit as absurd as 900bats. What seems like an impossible partnership --- the whispy jaded indie innocence of Kimya Dawson and the intelligent attack of Aesop Rock's rhymes --- blends bizarrely seamlessly.

My guess is that these two actually found friends in one another. The songs they've penned here have all the sense of inside joke that made Kimya Dawson's records so lovable in the first place, but here she's more focused, sounds like she's having more fun. You can pick up the vinyl over at The Fifth Element. Don't believe me? Check out the hilarious "Scissorhands" and the dark "TV at 10."

Okay, so I might be exaggerating a bit here, but Icelandic Dream-gaze outfit Sigur Ros is releasing Kveikur on June 18 here in America and their new single 'Brennisteinn' is an apocalyptic juggernaut of sound. From the opening moments of 'Brennisteinn,' it's clear that Sigur Ros are exploring new directions. Never has the band sounded so aggressive or so loud. Losing the atmospherics of Kjartan "Kjarri" Sveinsson's synthesizer and keyboard work has made the band sound more like a proper band than a religious experience, but lead singer Jonsi Birgisson's angelic vocal embellishments remain.

After a few years of successful, but stagnant music, Sigur Ros have altered their trajectory enough to reengergize their older fans while also courting new listeners with a stronger and edgier sound. Kveikur can be preordered now from the Sigur Ros website as a CD or Double LP. Here's the video for 'Brennisteinn.'

Dark Sky: Dance Music With A Dark Side

Dance music may be one of the hardest genres to make a break through: with so much quality talent out there and countless clubs and performances it can be hard to get noticed. So when a group comes by like London's Dark Sky, dripping with personality and depth, one takes notice. Tom Edwards, Matt Benyayer and Carlo Anderson make up the trio, and their varied influences and interests expand Dark Sky's sound to include popular elements of bass, dub, and jungle, but also more nuanced counter-point styles like calypso. Don't be fooled though, Dark Sky is as contemporary as a production group can be at the moment, and definitely dark. In an interview with Tectonic Records Carlo Anderson laughs, "It's quite evil. I hear that, it's definitely aggressive, not one you'd listen to at home…" Dark Sky has a new EP "Confunktion" just released on Tectonic Records. I'd highly recommend picking one up. You can also check out Dark Sky on NTS Radio every other Thursday from 10pm-12 (GMT) where you can also download previous shows.

Siriusmo Is Back With Enthusiasm

When one debuts with Modeselktor's 50 Weapons label, the world tends to take note. Since then, Berlin based electronic artist Siriusmo (Moritz Friedrich) has worked primarily with Monkeytown Records and they will be releasing his new album Enthusiast on June 14. Modeselktor has released a 3 minute clip of 'Itchy' off the new record onto their soundcloud where it is receiving massive rotation. In typical Siriusmo mystery, the press-release for Enthusiast states:

"After eighteen years, elaborate and outrageously expensive recording with a full-size Czech symphony orchestra, Siriusmo decided to reject it and to retire with enthusiasm.This was followed by moments of euphoria, overconfidence, and many shed tears."

Is Siriusmo retiring? Did he come back out of retiring? And where is this full-size Czech symphony?" Somehow I doubt you'll find any answers in Enthusiast, but you'd be amiss and a fool to not get yourself a copy. Preorder from Monkeytown Records on green wax.

photograph: Chris Dilts It was announced today that visionary folk and blues singer-songwriter Jason Molina has passed away of organ failure due to alcohol consumption. He was 39 years old. Molina was the guiding force behind Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co., as well as his own solo material. Despite the different monikers, they were very little stylistically different, all revolving around a heartbreakingly blues inspired folk music bolstered by Molina's haunting croon and slow delivery.

For those like myself, who were drawn to a neo-folk music after the bubble burst on the alternative/grunge scene of the 90s, we were drawn to Molina because of his earnestness. Like Kurt Cobain's rendition of Leadbelly's 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night,' Molina seemed to be acutely feeling the melancholia which prevaided his work. With Songs: Ohia, Molina helped usher in what would become the neo-folk revival of the aughts including the likes of Iron & Wine, Bright Eyes, and M. Ward. What none of these acts could match up with Jason Molina though, was the blues he brought to his music with such a powerful sincerity that could crack the hard shell of any cold heart.

The past several years has found Jason Molina recovering from his alcohol abuse, robbing us many years from an otherwise extremely prolific artist. Between the years of 1996 and 2009 he released 18 records and another 21 EPs and singles. Fans of Jason's should donate to his medical fund which was set up in 2011. In Jason Molina's honor, here is a cachet of some of my favorite songs by a brilliant artist.

Ensemble Pearl: Noise Supergroup

Very rarely do I find myself thinking that the masses are going to love an ominous doom-rock/noise group, but here I find myself thinking just that. Out of Drag City comes a supergroup of loud proportions. Comprised of Stephen O'Malley (Sunn O))))), Astuo (Boris), epic experimental guitarist Michio Kurihara, and William Herzog (Jesse Sykes and the Sweethereafter), Ensemble Pearl is a devastatingly moving doom noise record that journeys between beautiful soundscapes, droning noise meditations, and pummeling metal amplification. Okay, so maybe not music for the masses, but I'm telling you, this record is real good. By enveloping light in darkness, it shines so bright.

Nils Frahm: 9 Songs For 9 Fingers (or What Happens When A Pianist Breaks His Thumb)

Recently, I cannot help but listen to Nils Frahm's Screws over and over. The nine song record was recorded after Frahm had broken his thumb. He had needed to cancel a bunch of performances and grew bored of his recovery. Despite the fact his doctor cautioned against playing the piano, Frahm began playing with only his healthy fingers, recording his songs at night before bed. By the time he was healed, Nils Frahm had a collection of nine songs, eight of which named after the names of the tones (Do through Ti) plus a clever You added as the ninth track. Screws is a mesmerizing collection of music, drawing on the spirit and calculatedness of Erik Satie. The album is for sale at Erased Tapes and streaming at Nils Frahm's website.

That's right everyone! It's a very special edition of New Music Mondays because today is my birthday! In honor of celebrations and parties everywhere, I'm going to be highlighting some of my favorite music that has come out very recently that you can dance to, or that will at least get your old noggin bobbing. So turn up the bass and check out these tunes.

Mo Kolours has been releasing music now for a few years, and each of his releases seem to sell out absolutely immediately. Such is the case for his newest EP, the third in his one handed music series, called aptly EP3: Tusk Dance. The EP is already sold out on their bandcamp and is probably already gone from stores. Check out some really groundbreaking work from a fantastic percussianist / singer Mo Kolurs. And if you haven't already, go to his bandcamp and check out the first EP from the one handed music series Drum Talking.

I don't how I've missed this, but Dauwd has a new record coming out today called Heat Division on Ghostly International. The British beatsmith has made an incredibly atmospheric techno record, bustling with drowned synth lines and oh-so perfect embellishments of sound and clatter. The opening track 'Heat Division' is about as good as it gets.

There Is Absolutely No Way We Could Not Include a James Black / Eno Collaboration

That's right, the much wondered about James Black and Eno collaboration has been released to the world, and boy is it something. About as dark at stark as one might expect, it outdelivers all other expectations. This track is smartly crafted with purposeful changes in movement. You must listen to this song!

So Saux-y

I don't know what it is about Italy, but I feel like it's inspiring a few really tremendous pieces recently and a lot of tremendous producers. Saux isn't from Italy, but he's Dutch and that does just fine with music like this. The EP Bring Me Home is experimental and cool. There's lots of room for the weird, and lots of room for catchy hooks. Saux me up baby!

The first vinyl record I ever owned was actually two 7" 's: The Dead C's "Stealth" b/w "The Factory" and Death Cab For Cutie's "Underwater!" b/w "The Army Corps of Architects." I had never heard of either of these bands, and had not an inkling to their contents. They were the first installments I would receive from the second incarnation of the fabled Sub Pop Singles Club, and I shakily placed the first 45 --- The Dead C --- onto the platter. I had a few records fished out from my parents old collections, but still was new and unaccustomed to the process of record playing. As the strange droning sounds of The Dead C came out of my cheap home theater speakers, my world was forever changed. Not because of the quality of the music, for I didn't understand or even like it at all, but I now lived in a world where noise could be considered a kind of music. Sub Pop had endorsed this avant garde group and was challenging me with it, opening my sonic palette.

The other record, Death Cab For Cutie's "Underwater!" with one of my personal favorites "The Army Corps of Architects" went on to - of course - blow my mind. Remember though, that this is 2000. Death Cab For Cutie's breakthrough record Transatlanticism would not come out for another three years. At this point in time Death Cab was an odd indie-pop band playing on a very obscure label from the Pacific Northwest. I would become obsessed with the band for awhile, until their fame and acclaim would drive me away to lonelier pastures, but what I was also becoming captivated by was the allure of the musical underground: lo-fi, noise, post-rock, experimental, and all that was slightly off from the mainstream, the subterranean pop that Sub Pop felt itself the purveyors of in that seminal period in Seattle during the late 80s/early 90s.

So this week, I want to pay homage to that spirit and let our freak flag fly. There will be no household names in this installment of New Music Mondays, but instead a sampling of wonderfully talented and charismatic music-makers that fall somewhere off of the map. Just as Death Cab For Cutie would go on to become a stupidly successful (whatever that means) group, if you look back on Sub Pop's Single Club roster you'll notice a few groups specializing in the weird who would make names for themselves in their own right: Flaming Lips (1989), Bright Eyes (2001 - right after Fevers and Mirrors but before Lifted:), Om (2008), Blues Control (2008), and Deerhunter (2009). Who knows? Maybe one of these groups is poised on the verge of breakthrough.

Rangda Rock

Another band you might include on the previous list is a band I've already mentioned, The Dead C. They are coming out with a split 12" with Rangda tomorrow on Ba Da Bing. The press materials claim boisterously that they are, "two of the greatest bands of the present day," and while I don't know that is necessarily true, The Dead C and Rangda do sport some of the biggest names in a genre that most know nothing about. 'Sancticallist' is a more restrained number than what Rangda is capable, but hypnotic as a snake charmer.

Eye Seas A Cappella Awesomeness

A group that undoubtedly fits into the 'weird' moniker is of LA based Brianna Meli's Eye Seas. Her album Fruit Fucking Salad is a lo-fi wonderland á la Kimya Dawson - honest, but bizarre; heartfelt, yet silly. What Brianna Meli brings to the table though is a Joni Mitchell folkiness that make these layered a cappella recordings and loosely accompanied songs into a genre that is extremely contemporary yet rooted to an Alan Lomax simplicity. The whole album of Fruit Fucking Salad is streaming on her bandcamp, but the track 'Erryday' takes the cake. Beach Boys-ian in its catchiness, 'Erryday' is a delight to listen to. The record label Juniper Tree Songs has released Fruit Fucking Salad on cassette in February, so make sure you get your copy before I compare Eye Seas to another monumental band and they all sell-out.

Let Paw Paw Carry You Away

Considering how important - nay - how absolutely completely necessary finding a suitable drummer is to any live project, it is amazing to me that more percussionists aren't leading their own groups. Eston Lathrop, a drummer who has worked with Woodsman and Young Prism, is releasing a double-album this April of his prolific soundscapes on Fire Talk. Paw Paw has 14 albums on his bandcampfrom only the past 2 years and 3 months although it does include music, "COMING LATER." Temporalis / Ephipysis coming on double-cassette is a beautiful churning of drone and guitar, but the lead, the lead is almost always the drums. It builds the textures, like the impasto of a painting; they turn the story, and lead the charge. The Album Leaf come to mind as a comparison, but this moves to fast for moving so slow. Perfect for long drives and also going to bed alike.

The Flower Orgy Make the Kind of Pop Music That Will Make You Wish it Was the 90s

Also appearing on Fire Talk, Flower Orgy return, having traded Brooklyn for San Francisco. Only Nate Luce remains from the original core members, but this is all a trifle when the music is this good. With a laid back sensibility that Christopher Owens of Girls thought he had, Flower Orgy make a sing-a-long style pop song that I thought died back in the late 90s. On 'Our Song' the guitar melody is easy and happy, the chorus is fun, it sounds like Belle and Sebastian, "smoking marijuana," and now you hear the diddy... 'Our Song' is bliss to listen to; it's just waiting for summer when you will play this again and again and again... The 7" is on Fire Talk Records and will ship out May 14. That said, this is limited to 150 (!) copies, so I wouldn't wait.

Sometime this week, Gilead Media and Psychic Violence Records will be posting preorders for the new vinyl-only Ash Borer 12" Bloodlands. The two track record is nearly 40 minutes long with both pieces stretching over the 15 minute mark. The lead off single 'Oblivion's Spring' charts a course over slowly lapping waves remaniscent of the River Styx before disintergrating into an unreletnting metal onslaught that finally gives way to a musical boat adrift at sea.

Ash Borer has come to prominence fairly quickly, particularly after their split 12" with Fell Voices on Gilead Media/Eternal Warfare. Both Ash Borer and Fell Voices share a sound that is growing in heavy metal music, one of soul. Similarly to Wolves in the Throne Room, Ash Borer has incorporated a longer movement oriented writing structure (as in classical compositions) with some of the new sonics that has been brought to metal music through bands like Cult of Luna, Mogwai, Boris, and Sun O))). In adapting the medium, Ash Borer and their ilk have added a much needed sophistication to their trade, making music both the metal heads can champion and is still enjoyable to those uninitiated in the ways of doom.

I recomend keeping your eyes peeled for Gilead Media and Psychic Violence Records preorder announcement. Only 1000 copies of Bloodlands have been printed, including a very limited version only being sold on their European tour with Fell Voices. Suffice to say, I don't need to tell you that these will be all gone by the time of the April 15 release date.

There have been few groups of the past ten years that so consistently impress me as Bonobo. While their landmark album Dial 'M' For Monkey may never be matched in greatness, Bonobo has been quitely evolving and perfecting their catchy down-tempo sound. This is very evident on the group's new cut 'Heaven For A Sinner' featuring the imitable Erykah Badu. The band has worked with female singers before, and with much success - most notably Bajka on the album Days To Come and Andreya Triana on Black Sands - but Bonobo's sound has never paired up so beautifully as with Erykah Badu.

'Heaven For A Sinner' finds Bonobo restrained, but with deep playful grooves, occasionally ornamented by 8-bit blips. Badu does what she does, and delivers a soulful vocal delivery full of conviction. Listening to this track, I can already feel the sun on my skin, dropping through the slats of an el-track running through a city alley. Head over to NinjaTune to preorder one of the various editions for the new album The North Borders, which comes out April 1st. Bonobo has a reputation for making some of the nicest records in the business and I expect The North Borders to be no different. Check out their awesome video 'Cirrus' from the record as well.

Dead Ghosts Make My Day By Proving You Can Still Make 60's Garage Rock Sound Good!

Little known Vancouver band Dead Ghosts have their new single streaming 'Roky Said.' Off of their upcoming album Can't Get No that will be out April 30 on California's Burger Records. The song was inspired by the psychedelic rock pioneer/drug proponent/schizophrenic/13th Floor Elevators founder Roky Erickson, but is upbeat and dances despite its subject matter of "being left behind." Part of the band's appeal can be attributed to their method of recording Can't Get No. The band purchased a Tascam 388 8-track off of Craigslist and recorded their tracks at various basements and bars throughout Vancouver.

Are Album Previews Worth the Effort? Beach Fossils Make a Case for Free Streaming

Since the advent of Napster - and all of the file downloading sites, .ftp file-sharing groups, and now Torrents - the question of how to promote and share music has become muddied. No longer can a musical group gain exposure through something as simple as radio airplay, hope finding success in a large market, and eventually disseminating to the smaller markets and to a national audience. Now, radio is in shambles. Only college radio stations and regional NPR networks (both notoriously located on the fringes of bandwidth) seem willing to even consider playing new music, and because each of their respective mission statements are usually centered around serving the community, new music can be hard to come by.

Radio has been replaced by the blogosphere, where we are drowned in the unregulated flow of new acts, genres, styles, and trends. This is both a blessing and a curse. No longer are we constrained by the curation of radio directors eyeing their bottom line, but now everyone seems to be vying for our attention to such an extent that it's hard to even decide what you like, and many of us have just given up. New music is discovered by the files we trade with friends. And 'new' is a relative term of course. It might be an opera recorded in the 1940s, but if I haven't heard it yet, it's new to me!

So, what's a band, a record label, a musician to do? Many groups release their music for free on sites like Soundcloud or Bandcamp. Others have their music released for free for them (unknowingly, or at least unendorsed) on YouTube. For listeners, this is great. You can listen to a band before you buy their music and there's no download time or any files to store... But if you can listen for free anywhere there's internet (nearly everywhere) do you really need to buy it? Many record labels subscribe to this line of thought and so the music they release to the internet is abridged or clipped. I HATE THIS. This is unprouductive and irksome. It's hard to listen to something that you know will end abrubtly. I humbly swear to never post a one minute fragment of something to this column and call it 'music.' It's wholly unsatisfying and wholly annoying.

Luckily, there seems to be a new trend emerging. Labels and musicians are working around this issue by making their releases tempting in their own right: as collectibles and as objects. Captured Tracks has recently posted the new and fantastic Beach Fossils' record Clash the Truth to its Soundcloud in its entirety. Not just a song or two or three, but all 14 of them. Their hope, I imagine, is that guys like me will take notice and post it to their blogs and then people like you will listen. Then, you'll be told how Captured Tracks is selling Limited Edition LP as well as a Limited Edition Cassette and how reasonably priced they are, and at least one of us will go ahead and buy one. Seriously, the cassette is limited to 200 and is only $8.00! I hope it works because this is a world that I love living in.

Kieran Hebden Keeps It Coming

Never one to rest on his laurels, Kieran Hebden of Four Tet will be releasing another 12" on his own TEXT records. This one is a slow building portal to a different dimension called 'Roseland' and will be b/w 'Metropolis.' The song was produced with Ben and Tom Page. They are billing themselves as RocketNumber 9 and Four Tet. Check Bookmat for it's release. Four Tet's previous release 0181 which we talked about in a previous column is already 'SOLD OUT.'

Even the Metal From San Francisco Is Weird

Bay Area metal three-piece Grayceon has a new EP out on Flenser RecordsPearl and End of Days. The two long tracks are an embodiment of experimental jazz doom riffs, perfectly punctuated by Jackie Perez Gratz's cello playing and phantom-like lyrics. Their new EP comes in a heavy tipped-on jacket and is available in black or green vinyl for $14 or $15.00 respectively. Say you were there!

The press release for Fabio Orsi & Pimmon's new EP Procrastination begins with a quote from John Locke: “When ideas float in our mind without any reflection or regard of the understanding, it is that which the French call revery, our language has scarce a name for it.” There could be no better description of this music, as the slowly, but epically built 'I Wish You Were In Yallingup' will attest to fully. The way the waves of sound crash over the listener, especially if experienced through headphones, is to shoegaze as drowning is to water. This is a thick serious piece worthy of repeated listens (in an augmented state or not), and is available from Stashed Goods. Only 250 of these LPs were printed... they'll be gone before you recover from their wake.

Three Great New Indie Rock Tracks & Some Mardi Gras Music For Your FAT TUESDAY

Hello one and hello all, welcome to the Fat Tuesday edition of our New Music Mondays. Yesterday, Felissia and I went to the Mitchell Domes in Milwaukee and dinner at the Odd Duck for an early Valentine's Day. It was simply marvelous seeing all of the jungle plants, the succulents, and we even pilfered exotic fruit. Suffice it to say, there was going to be no New Music Monday, so here it is, on Mardi Gras!

Before We Get to the Brand Spanking New, RESPECT YOUR ROOTS! Dig some N' Orleans Jazz!

In honor of Mardi Gras, jazz culture, and one of my favorite cities in the world, I'd like to bring to you a bit of music for the occasion. As customary in New Orleans, Social Clubs pick a day of the year to celebrate themselves and do a bit of fundraising. Their jazz players will assemble and lead a semi-impromptu parade throughout the streets known as a Second-Line. The name refers to the paraders themselves; the "Main-Line" are the actual performers: the brass and drums. Here's local hero Trombone Shorty joining Kermit Ruffins, and the Rebirth Brass Band with a Mardi Gras Second Line for all you partiers!

Here FI/SHE/S FI/SHE/S FI/SHE/S

Super excited about this new group out of Paris, France. Although their press release states that the members hail from all over the world: China, Belgium, France, Cameroon. FI/SHE/S remind me of a Parisian response to Fleet Foxes: gorgeous harmonies, less folksy charm, more swagger.

Young Galaxy: A Band You NEED to Like

Ever since my girlfriend shared a CDr of Young Galaxy's first s/t album, I have been enamoured with this band. 2011's Shapeshifting was the most under appreciated album of that year, in my opinion. Young Galaxy's blissful electro-indie-pop songs win over the heart nearly instantaneously. I'm actually very surprised that they haven't at least been featured in a commercial or something (now that I think about it, I don't own a TV - they very well could be featured in all sorts of commercials and I would never know). Word on the street is that Paper Bag Records is releasing Young Galaxy's new album Ultramarine in April. I am highly anticipating this release, but as far as I know there is no proper date as of yet. The band has been nice enough to tantalize us with this new track 'Pretty Boy' that is full of that infectious island influenced techno-pop that has been going around lately, that is, an island influenced techno-pop with the steadiness of a tall Vancouver Red Cedar.